Giving salon emissions the Net Zero treatment
High Street hair salons are the latest businesses to benefit from tailored guidelines to help them reduce carbon emissions and, ultimately, become Net Zero businesses.
We’ve partnered with L’Oréal to create the Net Zero Salons Programme, to guide salons through the process of calculating, tracking and reducing greenhouse gas emissions through tailored carbon reduction plans. With over 30,000 salons in the UK, we’re excited at the opportunity to drive real decarbonisation in the beauty sector and create a greener high street for everyone.
Working with leading salons like Adam Reed (London), Trevor Sorbie (Manchester) and Linton and Mac (Scotland), our pilot programme revealed that the average salon appointment produces an estimated 3.1kg of greenhouse gas emissions. In line with Science Based Targets, those salons who sign up to the Net Zero Programme will be working to reduce that figure down to 2kg per appointment - by adopting measures that range from switching to renewable energy, to improving waste treatment and management and incentivising employees to choose more sustainable travel options. We hope to help the sector reduce its emissions by at least a third.
Client habits and expectations around sustainability are changing. Recent L’Oréal surveys found that 45% of British women said they made more sustainable choices in 2022 than in previous years, with similar numbers saying that they were keen to see their salon doing more to be sustainable. Salons are at the heart of our everyday conversations and have a powerful role to play in influencing how we think about the climate crisis.
Our co-founder Simon Heppner says: “We’re excited to introduce this industry-first roadmap and tool for the salon sector, in partnership with L’Oréal. The programme is open to all salons, empowering and enabling the whole industry to play its part in tackling the climate crisis, whilst meeting the growing expectations of consumers and employees. By helping salons to become more efficient, we hope the programme will also help them build more business resilience for the future.”
Thierry Cheval, Managing Director, L’Oréal UK & Ireland, said: “As market leaders, we recognise the important role we play in empowering our business ecosystem - such as our salon partners - to take steps to be more sustainable. We are committed to continuing to support the future of the sector and we look forward to having salons from across the UK and Ireland join the programme as the industry seeks to take climate reduction action.”
Millie Kendall OBE, CEO British Beauty Council said: “Now more than ever – especially post pandemic – salons play an essential role on our British high streets and local communities; with the power to not only inspire confidence and promote wellbeing, but to be an advocate for positive change – not only from a business perspective but extending to influencing consumer habits on important topics such as sustainability. This new Net Zero Salons Programme, coupled with L’Oréal’s new educational offerings to help upskill hairdressers on sustainability, is really empowering the salon sector to play its role and take action.”
Salons in the UK and Ireland can discover more about the Net Zero Salons Programme and sign up here.
Or, next time you’re going for a trim, talk to your hairdresser about what they’re doing to tackle the climate crisis. The more customers talk about sustainability, the more salons will respond, and the more we can get this fantastic feel-good industry feeling good about embracing a more sustainable new look.
